Meridiem Capital Partners, the equities-focused hedge fund founded by former Citadel portfolio manager Khalid Malik, has rebuilt its assets to around $1.6bn after losing a $1.5bn investment from Millennium Management more than two years ago, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The fund is targeting $2bn in assets by the end of the year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, which became Meridiem’s largest backer after Millennium withdrew its capital, increased its investment in the fund this year, the person said.
Meridiem returned 13.6% in the first half of 2026, while also appointing John Golden as president. Golden, a former partner and co-founder of energy-focused private equity firm Spicewood Partners, will help lead fundraising, investor relations and business development.
Representatives for Meridiem and Schonfeld reportedly declined to comment.
The revival highlights the growing role of multi-strategy hedge funds as sources of capital for external managers. Firms including Schonfeld, Millennium and Qube Research & Technologies allocate billions of dollars to outside investment teams, allowing them to expand their trading capabilities and deploy more capital without building every strategy internally.
For smaller hedge funds, backing from a major multi-strategy firm can provide a rapid route to scale. However, the model also creates risks if a fund becomes overly dependent on a single large investor or if capital can be withdrawn quickly.
Meridiem’s recovery is relatively unusual in an industry where the loss of a major anchor investor can lead to a sharp contraction in assets or force a fund to close.
Schonfeld has been an active provider of capital to external managers. The firm backed an Abu Dhabi-based fund run by Omar Newera with $500m last year, while former Garda portfolio manager Nicolas Monaghan launched Mistral Capital with Schonfeld’s support. Schonfeld also backed Aster Capital, founded by Nabil Ouajjane, in 2019.
The model has been likened to “rocket fuel” for emerging hedge funds because it can accelerate asset growth and allow managers to rapidly build out teams and strategies. But the concentration of capital can also create vulnerabilities if a fund lacks a sufficiently diversified and stable investor base.
Marc Gilly, a partner at Canepa Global Managers, has described such capital as potentially “flammable”, warning that the shortcut to rapid growth can destabilise a manager if it is not balanced with longer-term funding.
Malik previously managed money at Citadel’s Surveyor Capital and earlier worked for Steve Cohen when his firm was known as SAC Capital Advisors. He began managing capital from Schonfeld in 2024 after Millennium withdrew its investment following the end of its lock-up period.
